The goal of the Communication Services Department is to enable people with communication and cognitive disabilities to communicate and function as independently as possible in their homes, schools, communities, and work.

Examples of conditions which include speech, hearing, language, cognitive, voice, or swallowing disorders include:

Brain injury
Stroke
Cerebral palsy
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson's disease
Spastic dysphonia
Learning disabilities
Autism spectrum disorders
Laryngectomy
Hearing loss
Auditory processing disorders
Deafness

"WWRC subscribes to the standards of practice promoted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and hires only professional staff who are certified by ASHA and licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia."

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The following services are provided for children and adults:

Comprehensive audiological evaluations
Assessment of middle ear function
Hearing aid dispensing and orientation
Central auditory processing evaluations
Aural rehabilitation
Assistive Listening Device assessments
Industrial hearing monitoring

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Communication Services offers a full range of Speech-Language Pathology Services for individuals with communication disorders. Emphasis is placed on an interdisciplinary approach to evaluation and treatment of patients, with a broad range of specialists being available for consultation. All speech-language pathologists and audiologists providing services through the department are licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia and hold the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Evaluation, treatment, and consultative services are available for adolescents and adults in speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. Programs include treatment of:

Aphasia: Treatment of the language disorder associated with stroke and other brain injuries. Program options include a once-yearly 6-week intensive group treatment program to prepare people with aphasia for return to work or vocational evaluation. Family involvement and education is emphasized.

Cognitive-linguistic disorders and language of confusion: Associated with head injury or other diffuse brain injury from infections or disease processes. Includes treatment of memory, orientation, abstract reasoning, auditory perception, verbal problem solving, expressive and receptive language.

Non-dominant (right hemisphere) language disorders: Emphasizes treatment of aprosodias and neglect syndromes.

Developmental language disorders: Includes treatment of language learning disabilities, language delay related to mental retardation, dyslexia, and other developmental disabilities.

Interpersonal communication: A specialized, 6-week Communication Skills Group is available to improve communication skills for successful interpersonal relationships for school, work, and social interactions. Videotaping and reviewing conversations by peers and therapists is an important component for providing concrete feedback and monitoring improvements in performance.

Non-speaking Individuals: WWRC offers a unique interdisciplinary team approach to evaluation and treatment of individuals who are unable to speak or whose speech is unintelligible (due to cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury, progressive neuromuscular diseases, etc.). The Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) Team is headed by a speech-language pathologist, and includes a PT, OT, rehabilitation engineer, and vocational evaluator, and offers comprehensive programming for development of both high-technology and low-technology communication systems for these clients. The Empowerment Through Communication program (ETC), an intensive, two-week group program is offered to help facilitate the development of a person’s communicative competence using an AAC device.

Chewing/Swallowing Disorders (Dysphagia): Evaluation and treatment of chewing and swallowing disorders associated with movement disorders or structural abnormalities of mouth and throat. Videoflouroscopic evaluation of swallowing is available in collaboration with a local hospital. A team approach to treatment is used, including speech-language pathology, OT, Nursing, and Dietician.

Auditory Disorders: Training in the areas of speech improvement, speech-reading, auditory discrimination, auditory memory, sequencing, figure ground discrimination, and compensatory training for auditory processing and perceptual disorders.

Fluency Disorders: Intensive treatment of stuttering and other fluency disorders.

Voice Disorders: Including laryngectomee and glossectomee rehabilitation programs.

Articulation Disorders: Including specialization in motor speech disorders – dysarthria and apraxia of speech - that occur with brain injuries, stroke, cerebral palsy, and progressive neurological disorders.

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Assistive Technology in Communication Services includes:

Amplifiers and voice processors - these are portable, wearable devices that amplify and sometimes clarify voices that are weak or soft or difficult to understand.

Artificial larynges - devices that enable a person whose voice box (larynx) has been removed or has become dysfunctional by accident or surgery to speak by providing a sound source that is projected into the mouth for shaping by the tongue, teeth, lips, etc.

Augmentative & alternative communication devices - low and high tech devices and systems that provide speech output for people whose speech cannot be understood or who have no speech.

Cognitive aids - electronic memory aids, spelling aids, software to aid in organization and formulation of written communication, etc.

Assistive listening and alerting devices - Assistive listening devices can help a person with a hearing loss or auditory processing disorder hear better in conference or classrooms or other difficult listening environments. Alerting devices help people with deafness or hearing loss be alerted to doorbells, phones ringing, babies crying, alarm clocks, fire alarms, or other environmental events.

Hearing aids - hearing aids have become much smaller and more powerful than ever. A comprehensive hearing aid evaluation can help you identify and choose the best hearing aid for your needs.

Communication Services